Chartering out your boat: bareboat charters, captained charters and app rentals

Operating the boat & enforcement · Power & sail

The law sorts a charter by who supplies the crew. If the charterer supplies it (a bareboat charter), the boat needs inspection only above 12 passengers. If the owner provides or specifies the captain, the limit is 6 passengers with an OUPV-credentialed, drug-tested operator (46 U.S.C. 2101; 46 CFR 15.605, 16.230).

Bareboat versus crewed: the legal line

• A vessel "chartered with the crew provided or specified by the owner" is treated much like any for-hire boat: up to 6 passengers it is an uninspected passenger vessel; above 6 it is a small passenger vessel (46 U.S.C. 2101).
• A vessel chartered with no crew provided or specified by the owner becomes a small passenger vessel only when it carries more than 12 passengers (46 U.S.C. 2101).
• The charterer and the charterer's representative are not counted as passengers (46 U.S.C. 2101).
• The Coast Guard describes a true bareboat charter as one where the charterer takes on the rights and liabilities of ownership: typically surveying the boat before and after, hiring and firing the crew, and setting the schedule (Coast Guard, 65 FR 11410, 2000).
• Coast Guard documentation rules say guidance on what makes a valid bareboat charter should come from private legal counsel, so use a written charter reviewed by a maritime attorney (46 CFR 67.23).

Why "rent my boat, I'll captain" can be an illegal charter

• If you rent out your boat and you, or a captain you require, run it, the owner has provided or specified the crew. Under the definitions that is a crewed charter, not a bareboat charter (46 U.S.C. 2101).
• A crewed charter with up to 6 passengers is an uninspected passenger vessel, so the operator must hold an OUPV or higher credential and be in a drug-testing program (46 U.S.C. 2101, 8903; 46 CFR 15.605, 16.230).
• With more than 6 passengers on a crewed charter, the boat must be an inspected small passenger vessel (46 U.S.C. 2101, 3301).
• Booking through a peer-to-peer app does not change the definitions. Consideration counts whether it reaches the owner directly or through an agent, so what matters is who pays, who supplies the captain and how many passengers are aboard (46 U.S.C. 2101).

Drug testing for paid operators

• On any vessel other than a recreational vessel, the owner, charterer, managing operator, master or person in charge is a "marine employer" under the Coast Guard drug-testing rules (46 CFR 16.105).
• A marine employer may not engage a crewmember until that person passes a pre-employment drug test (46 CFR 16.210).
• Credentialed crew on uninspected vessels, such as the OUPV operator of a six-pack charter, must be in a random drug-testing program (46 CFR 16.230(b)).
• Self-employed captains are included: no one may work as master or operator in a credentialed position, self-employed or not, unless the covered crew are in random testing. Employers may use a consortium or contractor to run it (46 CFR 16.230(d), (k)).

Documented boats

• If your boat is documented with only a recreational endorsement, it may be bareboat chartered only for recreational use (46 CFR 67.23).

The rules: 46 U.S.C. 2101 · 46 U.S.C. 8903 · 46 U.S.C. 3301 · 46 CFR 15.605 · 46 CFR 16.105 · 46 CFR 16.210 · 46 CFR 16.230 · 46 CFR 67.23

A plain-language summary of federal rules for recreational boats, checked against the rules’ own text and a second source, and written in our own words. It isn’t legal advice. States add rules of their own, and rules change — the links above go to the current official text.